1976: Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury introduces a gay character, Andy Lippincott (who had first appeared a month earlier).  Five newspapers refuse to carry the story arc of Andy’s coming out to Joanie Caucus.  Lippincott appears on and off in the daily strip for years.  In 1989, he returned to the strip when he is diagnosed with … Read More

1969: The Cockettes, a transvestite acting troupe credited with defining the “gender fuck” look of the 1970s, premieres their act in San Francisco. 1990: Openly gay actor Ian McKellen is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1990: Openly lesbian actress Pat Bond dies of lung cancer at the age of 65.

1978: Proposition 6 (aka The Briggs Initiative) which would have banned gays, lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California’s public schools is defeated in California, 59% to 41%. 1990: Gay Activist and film historian Vito Russo, author of the book and subsequent film “The Celluloid Closet” who is described by friends as “one of … Read More